SpaceX Confirms $100 Billion Spaceport in Vermilion Parish
Gwynne Shotwell stood before politicians, business leaders and reporters in Abbeville Tuesday. SpaceX's chief operating officer confirmed months of rumors. The company will build a $100 billion spaceport near Pecan Island, about 50 miles south-southwest of Lafayette, according to the Louisiana Illuminator.
State officials call it the largest capital investment in Louisiana history. The site covers 125,000 acres of coastal marsh, with about 40,000 acres set aside for launch facilities, the Illuminator reported. Plans call for 10 launch pads split across five complexes, each with its own propellant farm. The complex will also include a propellant production facility, power generation, a deep-water shipping port, an airport and employee housing, according to Manufacturing Dive and Engineering News-Record.
"We're preparing to build a spaceport that, until now, has only existed in science fiction," SpaceX founder Elon Musk said in a statement reported by Engineering News-Record.
Louisiana Economic Development projects 3,000 direct jobs over 10 years, with an average salary of $92,600. The agency also projects more than 8,100 indirect jobs, Manufacturing Dive reported. Shotwell told the Abbeville crowd local residents would fill 60% to 80% of the jobs, per the Illuminator. The state estimates 34,516 construction jobs at peak building activity, according to Engineering News-Record. SpaceX will pay local taxing authorities $25 million a year instead of property taxes, plus a $20 million upfront payment, the Illuminator reported. Construction is expected to begin in 2027. The first Starship launch is targeted for 2029.
The land was previously owned by ExxonMobil, which settled with the Louisiana government and coastal parishes July 31 over allegations it polluted the coastal marshes, Manufacturing Dive reported. Vermilion Parish has already lost an estimated 95 square miles of land between 1932 and 2015. It could lose up to 360 more square miles by 2070, per the same report. Gov. Jeff Landry said SpaceX will directly fund coastal restoration projects tied to the state's Coastal Master Plan.
Not everyone at the announcement was celebrating. Libby Smith Nehrbass of Lafayette owns a hunting and fishing camp on Pecan Island. She held a sign reading "Paradise Lost." "You can't tell me that birds coexist with rockets," she told the Illuminator. Abbeville nonprofit director Carrie Simon said she welcomed the coastal restoration pledge and hoped for a wider economic lift. "It can be a ripple effect of growth," she said.